AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
Since the dawn of the horror movie, one monster has outlived all the rest. One creature has terrified more people that Godzilla, The Creature, and Frankenstein combined. His name is Dracula, and just one man can kill him—Van Helsing.
Van Helsing tells the story of its title character, played by Hugh Jackman (X-Men), a man who cannot remember his past and has been hired by a secret society within the church to slay evil creatures such as Mr. Hyde and the Wolfman. Van Helsing is sent to Transylvania to assist the Princess, Anna (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld), in slaying Count Dracula. Hundreds of years ago, the king of Transylvania made a deal with God that he would kill Dracula in return for eternal salvation for all his decedents. Now, after centuries of his family trying to slay the monster, Anna is the only one left. Together Anna and Van Helsing must stop Dracula’s attempts to kill them and to reproduce; creating a race of vampires that will overcome the human population of the country.
Van Helsing is a surprisingly good movie. It provides thrilling action and an interesting plot. The writers take creative liberty in weaving the stories of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, and Mr. Hyde together, and it actually works. The writing also provides a lot of unexpected humor. Van Helsing’s side kick, a friar named Carl (David Wenham, The Lord of the Rings), uses word play extremely well. While the movie does lose momentum during the last half hour, it still keeps the audience’s attention the whole two hours.
Acting in this genre of film is not necessarily as good as in a drama, but it doesn’t have to be. Jackman and Beckinsale do a good job, however. I especially enjoyed Beckinsale’s Transylvanian accent. The characters are portrayed as likable, but complex. The audience, after all, is asked to decide whether Van Helsing is a murderer or a hero. Anna is very strong, but also very stubborn. I wanted to yell at her to just accept help, but at the same time I admired her for her willingness to face Count Dracula alone.
As far as special effects and stunts are concerned, I feel that they were done well, but not over the top. The effects and fighting sequences did not become more important than the story or the acting. This was refreshing, as more frequently computers, instead of writers, directors and actors, are dominating movies.
Van Helsing is a pretty good action-adventure movie that transcends the stereotypical vampire movie and makes the audience both laugh and wonder what will happen next.
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